Getting Away with Murder
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Author: Shari Lapena
Published: 2026
Genre: Other Genre
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IBC Editorial Rating: 3.5/5
This book is handpicked by the IBC Editorial Team. If you are an author, publisher, or reader and would like to have a book reviewed by IBC, you may reach us at editorial@indianbookclub.com — we’ll be happy to review it.
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Editorial Review:
Jill and Ted love their New York brownstone the way other people love their children, every mahogany staircase and state-of-the-art fixture a carefully, expensively chosen reflection of who they are. So when Ted's inheritance dries up, and a bad investment threatens everything they have built, the two of them arrive at an answer that feels, to them, entirely reasonable: the death of one wealthy relative, and the millions they stand to inherit, could solve every problem they have. All they need to do is trust each other completely, make no mistakes, and hope for no surprises. Shari Lapena's tenth thriller is a wickedly sharp portrait of a marriage built on money, and exactly how far two people will go to protect the life they never want to lose.
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Book Summary:
Jill and Ted have spent years and a small fortune turning their New York brownstone into an extension of themselves, a home that announces their taste, their status, their place in the world. When Ted's inheritance runs out, and a risky investment goes badly wrong, that carefully built life is suddenly at real risk of collapsing entirely. Rather than scale back, the couple lands on a far more drastic solution: the death of a wealthy family member, whose fortune would pass directly to them, would solve their financial crisis in one stroke. Convinced they can pull it off cleanly, Jill and Ted set their plan into motion, certain that their partnership and their discretion will be enough to protect them both. The novel moves between multiple perspectives: Jill, Ted, Jill's closest friend Lara, and a federal investigator drawn into the case, each adding a different layer of suspicion and insight into what is really happening beneath the couple's polished exterior. As the plan unfolds and its consequences ripple outward, cracks begin to show in the trust Jill and Ted have always taken for granted in each other. Layered alongside their scheme is a second, tangled mystery that keeps suspicion circulating among a wide cast of morally compromised characters, each with their own motives and secrets. As the investigation closes in and the truth becomes harder to control, Jill and Ted are forced to confront just how fragile their plan, and their marriage, really is, and whether getting away with it is even possible once greed, fear, and mutual suspicion enter the equation.
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Key Takeaways:
"What money will make ordinary people do": Lapena is precise about how quickly financial panic can push otherwise unremarkable people toward extreme choices, using Jill and Ted's spiraling scheme to interrogate how much status and comfort actually shape a person's moral limits. "Trust as the fragile center of a marriage": The success of Jill and Ted's plan depends entirely on their ability to trust each other completely, and the novel is sharp about how quickly that trust frays once real consequences and real fear enter their partnership. "Complicity and who gets to look away": With multiple perspectives circling the same crime, the novel raises pointed questions about who is willing to look the other way, and who ultimately bears responsibility once secrets start to surface. "The performance of a perfect life": Jill and Ted's obsession with their brownstone becomes a stand-in for a broader theme: the exhausting effort required to maintain an image of success, and what people are willing to risk to keep that image intact.
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Iconic Lines, Scenes & Characters:
Jill and Ted: A couple whose devotion to each other is matched only by their devotion to their lifestyle, Jill and Ted's descent into criminal conspiracy gives the novel its central, unsettling tension, as readers are left uncertain how far their partnership will actually hold. The multiple-perspective structure: Moving between Jill, Ted, Jill's best friend Lara, and the investigator on their trail, Lapena builds a web of suspicion and partial information that keeps the reader piecing together the full picture alongside the characters. The opening sequence: The novel's tense, high-stakes opening scene sets the tone immediately, plunging readers into the consequences of Jill and Ted's plan before pulling back to reveal how they arrived there. The parallel mystery thread: A second, entangled mystery running alongside the central conspiracy keeps a wide cast of morally gray characters under suspicion, adding real texture and unpredictability to the novel's central question of who will ultimately be exposed.
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Who Should Read This:
Readers who love morally complicated domestic thrillers featuring wealthy, unlikeable characters will find Jill and Ted's scheme both deliciously tense and impossible to look away from. Anyone drawn to multi-perspective mysteries with a wide net of suspects and shifting loyalties will appreciate how carefully Lapena builds suspicion across her ensemble cast. Fans of Shari Lapena's previous thrillers, known for sharp social commentary wrapped in propulsive plotting, will recognize her signature style here, even as this marks a notably darker, more audacious premise than much of her earlier work. A note on approach: readers should know upfront that this is a whydunit rather than a traditional whodunit, since the identity of the plotters is clear from the outset, so the tension comes from watching whether they get away with it rather than uncovering who is responsible.
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IBC Editorial Note:
This review is part of the Indian Book Club’s editorial initiative to spotlight books that inspire, inform, and leave a lasting impact on readers. Every title featured is carefully handpicked and reviewed by the IBC Editorial Team to maintain quality, authenticity, and literary value. If you are an author, publisher, or reader and would like to submit a book for review, we’d be delighted to hear from you. Please write to us at: editorial@indianbookclub.com Our team personally evaluates each submission, and selected books are featured as official IBC Editorial Reviews on our platform.